Amagumo no tayutaikureba nagatsuki no momichi no yama mo utsuroinikeri

天雲のたゆたひ来れば九月の
黄葉の山もうつろひにけり

Roma-ji: Amagumo no tayutaikureba nagatsuki no momichi no yama mo utsuroinikeri
English Translation: Like clouds in the sky
I have drifted to and fro,
and the mountains
yellow in the ninth month
have faded away
Meaning: Like the clouds of heaven I have drifted here, wavering to and fro, and now the mountains, yellow in the ninth month, have faded.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3716

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Eighteen poems composed while anchored at Takashiki Bay, each expressing his feelings"
He sings that because he has traveled on, drifting to and fro like the clouds of heaven, even the mountains yellow in the ninth month have faded. The journey that cannot proceed as wished, waiting again and again for the wind, is likened to clouds drifting across the sky. The stagnation of the journey and the turning of the season are overlaid, expressing the length of time passed in vain.
According to the headnote, this is one of eighteen poems composed while anchored at Takashiki Bay, each expressing his feelings. Takashiki Bay lies within Asō Bay in Tsushima, thought to be present-day Takeshiki in Mitsushima, Tsushima City, Nagasaki Prefecture. The last nine poems of the sequence have no left notes, and the author of this poem is not named.

First line, "amagumo no": the clouds of the sky, as things drifting and unsettled, leading into "tayutai" in the second line.
Second line, "tayutaikureba": "tayutau" means to drift, to waver: since I came wavering to and fro.
Third line, "nagatsuki no": "nagatsuki" is the ninth month of the lunar calendar, late autumn.
Fourth line, "momichi no yama mo": the mountains colored with yellow leaves too.
Fifth line, "utsuroinikeri": "utsurou" means to fade or change, and "nikeri" expresses completion and exclamation: they have faded, the poem ends.
Source: Manyoshu
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